Instrument current transformer with part turn winding



Oct. 12, 1948. J UNGEL 2,450,973

INSTRUMENT CURRENT TRANSFORMER WITH PART TURN WINDING Filed April 28, 1945 n h H n 5 I I 7 r 26 l INVENTOR. FRED 3'. LI NGEL Jmdbumh/ ATTO RN EYS Patented Oct. 12, 1948 ApplicationApriil: 28, 1945; SeriaLNo. 590 839 I ZGlaitns. l

The" present invention. relates. to. instrument transformers,particularly to those employedffor stepping-up= the. voltage and. thereby. reducing the current throughthe instrument and also to those employed for stepping-down the voltage inrorderitoreduce the voltage applied toa measmi'ng. voltmeter.

WhenitisJdesiredtgmeasure the current flowing through, a-: main circuit in which thevoltage is lquite large, it. is customary. towpass the current through: the primary. of a transformer adapted tma'ccommodate thelarge currents and to transformthe. voltage in the: secondary in a proportional'mannerto reduce the currentflowing in the. secondary to that value which can readily. be measured by the ammeter at hand.- Qn: certain occasions it hasrbeenfound that the current ratingtof the ammeter is not a submultipleof the currentflowing through the main circuit as measuredintwhole turn proportions and inasmucn=as the transformers of. the-prior art arealways-designed ona wholeturn basis the turn ratio may besuchasto cause overloading ofthc ammeter.v Invorder to: rectify this-situation the art has usually doubled. the number ofturns on the primary and secondary'windings ofthe current transformers-so as to provide the proper turn-r-atimaswould limit thecurrent in'the ammeter tosafeamounts. For example, supposing 'thatthe-ratio'between the current rating-of: the

ammeter and the current in themain' circ'uitis 50;.iti is" necessary to transform-and increase the voltage supplied tothe secondary-Winding of the transior-mer to which theammeter is connected SQ-times; But now let us. further suppose that the? current transformeractually had a transformationratio of only-25 which, if'the ammeter wererconnected-across secondaryv would'obviously result inzan excessive current. In-order tocorrect this-situation; it-has been the practice ofthe prior arttoincrease thenumber. of turns in the secondary in order to give the. required voltage transformation andin like degree reduce the-sec,

'ond ary current. This has resulted in the making of= relatively large transformers. with: their attendant bulls, and increases in core. and conductor loss,, all of. which: results in a reduction of chi-- cienc'y; Y

The primary object of the-invention-is to provideinstrumenttransformcr, for current or volt.- age. measurementand in which the proper voltage. or ampere ratio transformation is obtained, 'siiite'd'exac'tly to the. needsof tl1e. measuring instru'menti andllin. which the transformer'has no Ereat'er hulk than. the ordinary transformers used but quite unsatisfactorily for this purpose" Another object. is to provide an. instrument transformer which. will extend the. range of" cur rent or voltageiorwhich a giveninstrument' can be used lsothat' the instrument has. greater utility in-measuring large currentsonlarge voltages.

In the. case 0f. a. current transformer. the 1 sec..- ondary winding. usuaily c'onsistso-iiaconsiderable numben of turns whereasthe. primary winding contains only a few turnsso that the. greatest partoii the expense of. a. transformer can-beattribut'ed -to thesecondary winding. Accordingly, another objectpfthe: invention is to provide a currentstransformer Whichwill extend the: currents range over which a given v ammeten can= be employed but without requiring any increase either in the' size of. the winding on the.- number of turns of the secondary-coil to which-the-ammeterris-connec'ted; thusavoiding any increase in manufacturingcosts;

In camying outtheseobjects, I provide an improved transformer in which: the'proper' ratioiof transformation is? obtained, not by'changing, the secondary winding; to give a larger voltage: ratio rbut' byreducing;v the-number or turns in the primary. Winding even-to the: extent-of; providing a fractional turn inv that-winding. It is apparent that under these conditions the primary; winding does notv haveto be a submultiple: in "whole turns of thesecondary winding' but instead. could: have amihtegennumherof: turns and any fraction of aturn sothatiprecisely the proper transformation in] voltage or current: could be obtained which would satisfy thezrequirement of the-measuring instrument. Itlis; therefore, nov longer necessary tot 'doublathanumber of turnsonthe primary andsecondary;ror otherwiseto increase the. numturnswin eitherthc primary or secondary to.--ohta-in' ;thedesired translationratiobecausedn accordance with my invention thewpropen ratio can rbe.- obtainedby' employing: fractional turn's in one: or bothx-of thewindings of the.--tra-nsformer The invention will be Ibctter understood when reference: isimade: to the following description and: the; accompanying; drawings, in which:

Figure '1. is-aschernatic'viewvof a current measiuring s-ystem improved in. accordance withrmy invention and as. applied. to a heavy current carrying, system: connected-between: analternator and a-load.

Figure 2is a: cross-sectiona1 view oflthe-improved. transformer, the? coilsandf support-ingva-m paratus being shown in elevation-for. clcarness; .E'igure 3,-is a section taken alongqline: 3-:--3 of Figurezn Figure 4 diagrammatically shows the manner in which the improved transformer can be modified to give any degree of transformation desir d, necessitating fractional turns of wire in the primary or secondary windings.

Figure illustrates a modification of the transformer shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3 while Figure 6 depicts the manner in which the improved transformer can be used for high voltage measurement.

As shown in Figure 1, a source of alternating current energy feeds a load 3 through a pair of mains 2. A measuring instrument exemplified as an ammeter is designated 4. Let us assume that the current rating of this ammeter as compared with the current flowing through the mains 2 is such as to require a voltage step-up of 4 to 1. Under normal circumstances there would be four turns of wire 5 wound about the core 6 and the primary winding 1 which is connected in series with the mains 2 would have a whole turn. However, in accordance with my invention the primary winding 1 is constituted only of half a turn so that the secondary winding 5 need employ only two turns in order to retain the 4 to 1 voltage or current transformation. Consequently, the size of the secondary winding 5 remains relatively small and the range of the ammeter 4 in terms of the current flowing through the main circuit 2 is proportionately increased. Perhaps the greatest advantage of the improved transformer in which fractional turns are employed either in the primary or secondary winding is that the exact ratios of transformation can be obtained in order to satisfy the most rigid requirements of a measuring instrument which responds only to narrow limits of current or voltage being measured. It is apparent that the fractional turn can be applied to the secondary wind ing 5 so that instead of having a plurality of whole turns, as illustrated, this winding may comprise one and one-half, two and one-half or even one-half turn if necessary.

In Figure 6, I have shown the application of my invention to a voltage transformer in which the primary 8 is connected across the alternator and is in inductive relation through a core 9 with a fractional tum secondary [0 connected to a voltmeter H. In this particular case, it is desirable to eifect a voltage step-down, and as illustrated, there are three loops on the primary and a one-half loop on the secondary, making a transformation ratio of six. As will be explained in connection with the Figures 2 and 3, the fractional turn winding is formed by bending a metal strap (in the case of a current transformer) around the secondary winding and bringing the ends of the strap out from opposite sides of the secondary winding at half-way positions so that the winding will extend over only a fractional part of the core.

Figure 4 which diagrammatically illustrates the structure described immediatel above, indicates the possibility of obtaining a one-quarter, onehalf or three-quarter turn depending on the relative amount that the metal strap extends about the central core and is therefore subjected to the magneto-motive force in that core. Obviously, a partial turn of any fractional amount can be obtained in this manner and this fractional turn can either constitute a winding by itself or can be added to any number of turns of a winding and can be applied equally as well to the primary or secondary winding.

A practical structure by which the fractional turn winding can be applied to a transformer structure is shown in Figures 2 and 3. In these figures, reference character [2 designates the central leg or shunt of a rectangularly shaped core, the outer legs of which are indicated at l3. The core is made up of iron laminations suitably insulated to reduce eddy current loss and secured together in any suitable and wellknown manner. The secondary winding 5 (Fig. 1) is wound around the central leg or shunt I2 with the proper insulation indicated at 14 provided. The half turn I which comprises a strip or band of copper is bent around the outer periphery of the coil 5 but insulated therefrom and the ends l5 of the strip pass through openings 16 in the core l3 and insulation material indicated at IT is interposed between the core and each strip. The strips are given angular bends to assume a position directly above the transformer but separated from one another as indicated at [8. A strip or plate of insulation material l9 may be secured to the ends [8 in order to strengthen the latter and keep them in alignment. A threaded stud as to which a nut 2i is secured serves as a terminal for connection to the mains 2. It will be noted that the nuts 2| contact the underside of the strip legs l8. There is a washer 22 of insulation material restin on top of the strip portions I8 and surrounding each stud 20. These washers carry a mounting plate 23 which is suitabl insulated from the studs 20 and directly on top of the plate there is another pair of insulating washers 24 and finally a nut 25. Thus, the mounting plate 23 is rigidly secured to the studs 20 by the clamping effect of the nuts 2| and 25 and at the same time is insulated from the studs so as not to short circuit the terminals.

The leading-in conductors for the secondary winding 5 are indicated at 26 and if desired an intermediate conductor 2! may be provided.

As stated hereinbefore when the stud terminals 20 are connected in series with the mains 2, electrical energy flows through the half turn I which induces currents in the secondary 5 in accordance with the ratio of transformation. The ammeter 4 which may be connected to the conductors 25 will give a reading which when the transformation ratio is taken into account represents the amount of current flowing from the alternator I to the load 3. It has been found that the metal strap or band I which comprises the half turn primary can be readily applied to the outside surface of the secondary coil 5 and adequately insulated therefrom so that the entire structure lends itself well to conditions of carrying considerable currents. The fact that the strip portions l5 pass through the laminations I3 is beneficial from the support standpoint and it is a simple matter to adequately insulate the strip from the laminations. Inasmuch as the strip 1 and its end portions !5, l8 and the connecting strip 19 form a rectangular member completely enclosed, the structure as a whole is very rigid and lends itself readily to mountin on switchboards.

In Fig. 5 there is shown still another modification of the improved transformer. In this structure the secondary coil 5 is wound around one leg of a core type, or two-legged core l3, but instead of applying the primary fractional turn 7 to the curved outside surface of the secondary 5 this turn is caused to enter and leave one of the legs of the core from which it is suitably i sulated. As in the case of the other figures, the fractional turn 1 is connected in series with the mains 2 and the magnetomotive force setup throughout the core by the current passing through this partial turn will induce currents in the secondary coil 5 to which the measuring ammeter is connected. It is apparent that the ratio transformation between the partial turn I and the coil 5 in Fig. 5 could be determined experimentally and it is further evident that any other fractional turn ratio could readily be obtained by changing the position of the-strip 1 Within its core leg.

This design has particular advantages in multirange instrument current transformers where the size of the transformer is determined by the lower range windings. For example, in the particular application in which this design will be used the transformer has a secondary winding connected to a 1 ampere instrument. The multi-turn primary winding has taps at 1, 2.5, 5, and 25 amperes. The 25 ampere winding is made up of two turns so that the maximum current which can be obtained from this particular transformer by conventional design would be 50 amperes or 1 turn on the primary. In order to go to 100 amperes, it would then be necessary to double both primary and secondary turns and increase the amount of iron to prevent saturation. By going to the half turn winding described, this increase is unnecessary.

It will be understood that I desire to compre hend within my invention such modifications as come within the scope of the claims and the invention.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. An instrument transformer comprising a rectangular core having a central leg, a pair of concentrically arranged windings on said leg, one of said windings extending completely around the leg and the other of said windings extending only partially around the leg, the last mentioned winding being taken out through oppositely disposed portions of the core and means for insulatingly securing said last-mentioned winding to said core in order to constitute a rigid structure.

2. An instrument transformer comprising a laminated core of rectangular configuration and having a central leg on which is mounted a pair of windings, one of said windings completely surrounding the core leg, and the other of said windings only partially surrounding the core leg, the last mentioned winding passing through oppositely disposed portions of the core.

FREDERICK J. LINGEL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,700,689 Sparks Jan. 29, 1929 1,849,485 Gibbs et a1. Mar, 15, 1932 1,952,072 Jewell Mar. 27, 1934 2,246,167 DEntremont June 17, 1941 2,273,534 Mitchell Feb. 17, 1942 

